Then the glorious day came when my son could not only sit up perfectly fine on his own, he could keep himself up and entertained with bath toys and songs and splashing around. He didn't need me -- or want me -- sitting on the edge or sailing duckies through the tub with him. I just needed to be there to scrub off the soy butter, make sure he eventually emerged from his underwater bubble blowing, and to lift him out to wrap him up in a warm towel.
Once a little harrying, bath time is now down time for me. Of course, I won't leave him alone in the bathroom, but I can get things done in the twenty minutes or so he is doing his own thing. I now keep a list tucked in with my make-up, reminders of how I can use the three or four occasions a week that my son spends in the tub to make me feel better about myself, my home, or my many undone to-dos.
Be sure to keep a close eye on your child, but do find ways to breathe easy and take care of yourself while your more-independent child is in the tub, too. Here are a few of the options you might want to try from my list:
1. Handling small household tasks and online errands. Here's my one rule about doing work while my kid soaks: I only do the tasks that I enjoy (this is relative,right?) or that make me feel good to accomplish. While the water is running, I drag laundry baskets full of unfolded clothes up from the basement and into the bathroom. Sitting on the small step stool we keep by the sink, I can plow through the folding, sorting, and even putting some of the clothes and towels away while my child plays. For some reason, folding clean laundry soothes me, so I actually look forward to this task. Because it doesn't require any kind of intense attention, it also is a great thing to do if we haven't yet discussed how my son's day went or we have plans to make or silly songs to sing.
If a stack of work papers or bills is piling up, I sometimes use my boy's bath time to work to sort through and organize all of that. When I am in a purging mood, I pull out everything out of one of my dresser drawers and bring it all in to the bathroom to divide into keep, donate, and toss piles. You may also be surprised how many shoes you can clean or polish up in that time. Finally, if splashing is kept to a minimum, I will bring my laptop and shopping list into the bathroom and take care of ordering my groceries or doing any holiday or gift shopping that has been hanging over me.
2. Scrub, wipe down, and spruce up the space you're in. There's nothing like staring at the tile on the bathroom wall to make you realize how much dust, hairspray gunk, and other loveliness can accumulate in a week (or three). I often use bath time to wipe down and clear off the counter tops, shower doors, and other obvious places. But I also use the time to scrub the surfaces and corners I don't have time or energy to get to during normal cleaning days.
3. Tend to your toiletries. If you're not up for disinfecting your toilet, you can at least disinfect your toiletries. Use the time to clean your make-up brushes, wipe all the residue off of your compacts and containers, and trash the cosmetics that you know you've had for way too long. If it doesn't soothe you now, it certainly will when you open up your make-up drawer in the morning and you see it all looking clean and tidy.
4. Spa-ahhhhh. I'm probably never going to have the luxury of an in-home massage or lady who visits me once a week to give me a custom mani-pedi while I catch up on last season's "Project Runway." But doing a mud mask twice a week, taking the time to do actually do all three of my night time skincare steps, or even just filing my nails is delightfully dulcifying. Sometimes I get super-fancy and use up a bunch of the sample packets I've been hoarding for years. And once in a while, I let my son stay in the tub long enough paint my toenails bright blue and let them dry completely. I like to think this all is good practice at self-care for me and also serves a big purpose of familiarizing my son with the rituals and routines some women have. Maybe he won't just be a squeaky clean kid, he will grow up to be a man who understands and appreciates that women just don't magically get all relaxed, tweezed, toned, and moisturized.
5. Stretch and release. If I've had a particularly stressful day and the idea of cleaning anything -- even my own pores -- feels overwhelming, I know it's best to use my child's bath time to stretch my tight muscles. Whether I do downward dog on the bath mat or take several minutes to stretch the major muscles from my shoulders down to my hamstrings, I am always much more relaxed and ready to put the kid and myself to bed after I loosen up. After tapping away at the computer all day or walking in the ridiculously high heels I insist on wearing, giving myself a foot, calf, or hand massage can work wonders as well.
What do you do while your kiddo's in the bathtub?
Read more:
- Everything you need for bath time with your new baby
- Are weekends your time for winding down or working out?
- Quick ways to clean your house
[photo credit: Getty Images]
